Florence!

Images: Duomo Cathedral of Santa Maria Del Fiore; SM and SL pretending not to check out David;King Neptune; and the Ponte Vecchio


Florence!
It has rained every day, and today is no exception. Cold, windy and rainy. There is so much water that the toilets are backing up: our downstairs loo smells like a sewer. The Italians are worried that so much rain may cause the grapes to develop mold. This was a perfect day to tackle Firenze!
We took an early train from Castelfiorentino to Florence to take a break from trying to make sense out of Italia's road system.
I have to admit that, after finally figuring out the ticketing system, the train was on time, clean and inexpensive.
We arrived in Florence and headed straight for the Duomo (Museo Dell'Opera Dell Duomo) and Cattedrale de Santa Maria del Fiore – also called Duomo. The latter has a fascinating history in that the architect, Filippo Brunelleschi won a contest back in the early 1400's to design the dome, and used engineering principles that had never been proven, and many said were impossible. The dome remains today as a triumph of engineering over gravity. The Cattedrale itself would be gaudy if it were not so overwhelming beautiful – part candy cane, part zebra, part church – white green and pink.
The next hilite was Piazza Della Signoria – if you have ever watched David Rocco's “La Dolce Vita” this is the square the show begins at, with David running past the statues.
The piazza is dominated by some of the world's most famous sculptures, including Hercules, Neptune, and of course, David. Now one thing that David is not known for is his modesty, standing quite unabashedly in his altogether. Because of this, you will not see a picture of K with David in the foreground, but I have included one of SM and SL. I could have included many, as each time I lost track of them, they could be found at the base of the statue gazing at his – I am sure it was his face.
David, of course, was created by Michelangelo between 1501 and 1504. The statue became known for representing the defence of civil liberties (remember when he took on Goliath??). Interestingly, David's eyes glare towards Roma!
The Uffizi, the Galleria dell'Accademia, the Ponte Vecchio (the city's oldest bridge – dating from the 12th century), we did our best to do justice to them all, but to be honest, you could spend a year in Florence and not see all that it has to offer.
We took the 7:00 train back to Cabbiavoli and made ourselves a dinner of pollo arosto, insalada misti, asparagi and, of course vino bianco.